Many viewers who tune in to Casualty tonight may recognise one of the new leading cast members, but perhaps not in a role quite as intense as this one.

Olly Rix joins the cast of the medical drama as Holby City ED’s clinical lead, and is immediately thrust into an environment that he didn’t quite expect…

This will be Rix’s first TV role since he left Call the Midwife last year as his character exited Poplar for a life in the States.

“[It’s] radically different,” Rix exclusively told RadioTimes.com. “I love Flynn. I’ve really enjoyed playing this character and bringing this character to life and putting him together, and now getting to the point where he’s about to go on screen and meet an audience.”

Asked if he hoped that fans from Call the Midwife might tune in to watch him step into his new role, Rix said: “It’s always deeply, deeply flattering and rewarding to have people follow what you do across different shows, and if they do in this instance, then that would be amazing.

“I would be really proud of that and grateful for it, so fingers crossed.”

Rix’s character has been described as charming yet complicated, and he joins the NHS fresh from a tour of duty.

The BBC previously teased his character, noting: “He’s a man with a purpose, and with a fierce resolve to make a difference. He faces the challenge of instilling change in a system weighed down by bureaucracy, all the while grappling with the trauma he has experienced and a deception that threatens to be his undoing.”

Rix will star alongside Robert Bathurst (Downton Abbey), who is Flynn’s father-in-law and also happens to a top-tier surgeon who has “commanded the operating room for years with his unmatched skill and domineering personality”.

With Flynn holding on to plenty of secrets, could the pair come to blows as the new season progresses?